Effects of Seasonality and Pregnancy on Hair Loss and Regrowth in Rhesus Macaques
Several studies have examined the etiology of alopecia, or hair loss, in rhesus macaques. While outcomes differ across studies, some commonalities have emerged. Females, particularly pregnant females, show more alopecia than males, and alopecia follows a seasonal pattern. Much research has explored causes of hair loss; however, alopecia can result from lack of hair growth […]
Personality, environmental stressors, and diarrhea in Rhesus macaques: An interactionist perspective
Previous research has repeatedly shown both personality and psychological stress to predict gastrointestinal disorders and chronic diarrhea in humans. The goal of the present research was to evaluate the role of personality, as well as psychological stressors (i.e., housing relocations and rearing environment), in predicting chronic diarrhea in captive Rhesus macaques, with particular attention to […]
What time is feeding?: How delays and anticipation of feeding schedules affect stump-tailed macaque behavior
Everyday animal care routines are essential to an animal’s physical well-being, but the effects of husbandry routines on the animals’ psychological well-being are not often considered. The scheduling of animal care routines may have an important impact on how they are perceived by the animals involved. It was the objective of this study to assess […]
The Effects of Caretaker–Primate Relationships on Primates in the Laboratory
As contact with caretakers is likely to make up the majority of human-primate interactions in laboratories, caretakers represent an important influence in the lives of captive primates. The aim of this study was to determine how caretaker-primate relationships affected the behavior of primates in the laboratory. We examined whether stump-tailed macaques (Macaca arctoides) who were […]
Utility of social network analysis for primate behavioral management and well-being
New management strategies for detecting social instabilities and promoting social cohesion are needed to reduce aggression based morbidity and mortality among captive groups of rhesus macaques. This study was conducted to determine the utility of social network analysis for deciphering patterns of aggression and wounding in rhesus macaques. Over 37,000 observations of affiliative, submissive and […]
More than numbers matter: The effect of social factors on behaviour and welfare of laboratory rodents and non-human primates☆
With the development of laboratory animal science, increasing attention has been given to the possible influence of housing and husbandry on the behaviour and welfare of laboratory animals as well as on the scientific integrity. With the present paper, we aim to contribute to this knowledge by reviewing existing literature on how social factors influence […]
Presence of a privacy divider increases proximity in pair-housed rhesus monkeys
Use of a privacy panel in the home cage of female pair-housed rhesus monkeys has been reported to increase time spent in close proximity and time spent in affiliative behaviours. In the current study we measured these behaviours in more diverse populations; including male-male and male-female pairs of monkeys actively participating in cognitive experiments. We […]
Social awareness in monkeys
Tests of self-awareness in nonhuman primates have to date been concerned almost entirely with the recognition of an animal’s reflection in a mirror. By contrast, we know much less about non-human primates’ perception of their place within a social network, or of their understanding of themselves as individuals with unique sets of social relationships. Here […]
Auditory Memory in Monkeys: Costs and Benefits of Proactive Interference
Proactive interference (PI) has traditionally been understood as an adverse consequence of stimulus repetition during memory tasks. Herein, we present data that emphasize costs as well as benefits of PI for monkeys performing an auditory delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) task. The animals made same/different judgments for a variety of simple and complex sounds separated by a […]
Temperament in Rhesus, Long-Tailed, and Pigtailed Macaques Varies by Species and Sex
Temperament differs among individuals both within and between species. Evidence suggests that differences in temperament of group members may parallel differences in social behavior among groups or between species. Here, we compared temperament between three closely related species of monkey—rhesus (Macaca mulatta), long-tailed (M. fascicularis), and pigtailed (M. nemestrina) macaques—using cage-front behavioral observations of individually […]